Saturday's 28-26 home victory over South Alabama was one to feel good about.

"We played really well in all 3 phases at times," UL coach Micheal Desormeaux said.

The only problem is his Ragin' Cajuns weren't even allowed to enjoy it for 24 hours.

With the next game being scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday in Monroe on ESPN2, Sunday afternoon was actually Tuesday. Along that line, Monday is Wednesday and Tuesday is Thursday, and so on.

The players will have to mix in a lot more preparing into their recovery time.

"Tuesday is a Thursday practice, which is not a walkthrough," Desormeaux said. "We roll on Thursday, so we're going to roll on Tuesday, and then Wednesday you walk through like a Friday."

The good news is UL has already downsized the midweek practices once November arrived. In fact, if there's anything Desormeaux copy and pasted from the Billy Napier era, it's the schedule on non-traditional game weeks.

"We started this schedule in 2019 when coach Napier was here," Desormeaux said. "That was the first year we ever had this five-day turnaround. We went on the road to play Coastal on a Thursday night. Yeah, it's, you know, Sunday, Monday, or very long extended walkthroughs, but you still have to get the plays, you still have to get the reps.

"We've had success with that format. I thought it was outstanding ... that's something we've truthfully kept more than anything was the scheduling stuff he did."

Making that turnaround even tougher is the fact the South Alabama game Saturday was extra physical. Out of 58 offensive plays, 44 of them were running plays, including 19 from quarterback Lunch Winfield, who ran for 97 yards and a touchdown.

Ask how realistic it is for Winfield and the offense to endure another physical game just five days later?

"We'll find out," Desormeaux said. "What's so good is his competitive spirit is elite. His desire to win and do what it takes to win is just different."

As for the injury report, there won't be the normal Wednesday injury update press conference this week. Desormeaux verified running back Anthony Reagan is out for the season was expected with a knee injury from Saturday's game.

So UL's backfield began the season with a four-man rotation is essentially down to two backs in JJ Garner and Steven Blanco. No one is complaining about how hard or successfully either back ran it in the win. Garner had a career-high and team season-high 136 yards on 10 carries and Blanco added 55 yards on 13 tries.

The new third option when needed is now true freshman Ke'Rynn Smith from Holy Cross in New Orleans area.

"The roster is just 105, so the days of carrying seven or eight running backs are over with," Desormeaux said. "We've got three healthy backs, so we've got to prepare them like he (Smith) will (play). I think the game always kind of dictates that a little bit.

"The kid is really talented. He's incredibly talented, but he got here in June ... he's smart I think beyond his years. It's just a lot of stuff when you go from playing running back in high school to college."

Also making that challenge even tougher is suddenly the Warhawks are trending upward pretty rapidly. In the last three weeks, ULM had won at Troy and at Arkansas State. The defense that struggled mightily early on only allowed 313 total yards in the 19-17 win at Arkansas State on Saturday.

The win was no fluke. Not only did ULM outgain the Red Wolves 389-313, the limited Arkansas State's offense to 120 rushing, held a 35:32-24:28 edge in time of possession and was 11-of-16 on conversion downs.

"They're just playing a lot better is the long story short," Desormeaux said. "That's the biggest thing I've seen. They've just improved a lot."